Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman announced on Tuesday that the House of Detention will close.

Gusman said "mounting criticism" about conditions at Orleans Parish Prison was a factor in his decision to start closing its House of Detention.

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A class-action lawsuit was filed recently over poor inmate conditions, and a 2009 Department of Justice report concluded the jail is understaffed and doesn't adequately protect inmates from physical abuse.

"We don't tolerate sexual assault in this facility," Gusman said. "We find out about any and we immediately investigate it and arrest and assist in the prosecution. While there were some things in the panel discussion that we could improve on, frankly, a lot of those things were false and we proved them false at the hearing."

Gusman said 400 state inmates will be transferred and 100 unsentenced inmates will be taken to other parishes. In total, 628 inmates will be moved on Tuesday and the transfer will be done by next week.

PDF: DOJ Report On OPP (2009)

Gusman said the facility was part of the city's past and that the future lies in consolidating the jail, including a new inmate intake processing center. The new center is expected to hold more than 1,400 prisoners and the kitchen warehouse.

The sheriff said he had hoped to close the facility when the new intake center was complete, but noted that construction delays prevented the move.

"The city of New Orleans must provide adequate funding for the city's jail. The city consistently refused to fund any repairs to the House of Detention and the escalating numbers of needed repair and costs made the operation of this building untenable and unrealistic," Gusman said.

"The Sheriff's Office will continue to use the House of Detention kitchen to prepare meals for inmates. We will also use the building as the visitation center for inmates living in the tents, and it will also continue to be our communications center. But it will not house any inmates."

The House of Detention opened 50 years ago. When Gusman took office, he limited use of the facility, but it had to become fully operational when Hurricane Katrina hit.

"The House of Detention was the only maximum-security facility we had available," Gusman said.

Critics said it's about time the facility was closed.

"Everyone has known for years that conditions inside the House of D are deplorable," said Marjorie Esman, of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Esman said closing the facility is a big deal.

"That fact is (Gusman has) got people in there who don't need to be in jail," Esman said. "He shouldn't have been keeping state inmates in the first place. That's the state's problem. That's not a local jailer's problem. But we all know there are people in the Orleans Parish Prison who are awaiting trial who don't need to be in jail, people who would be out if they only had the financial means to post bond."

"Sheriff Gusman should be applauded for taking this step, but it's unfortunate it took this long and so many lives to know what we've known for years," she said.

The Southern Poverty Law Center helped file the class-action lawsuit about poor living conditions for inmates. With 2,848 prisoners in Orleans Parish Prison, Schwartzmann said more needs to be done.

"There are problems that deal with staffing compliments, security policies and mental health policies that also need to be transformed in addition to the physical location," she said.

Late Tuesday, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu's office responded to the closure in a news release.

"Reducing violent crime and reforming the criminal justice system has been the mayor's top priority since taking office," the release said. "As part of those reforms, we must have a jail that meets our needs, one that keeps our city safe, protects civil liberties and operates in the best interest of Orleans Parish taxpayers. Today's announcement by the sheriff appears to be a step in that direction."